Last week many of us were surprised to hear EF Hutton talk again – Wow! They exist? – when Hutton issued three press releases over eight days. Hutton has emerged as potentially much cooler, socially conscious version of a money machine and not just because the money takes the form of cryptocurrency. It seems that Hutton’s brand had been hanging out somewhere deep in Citigroup until half a dozen years ago when it was resurrected and sent out to fare on its own. EF Hutton today is a broker dealer unit of HUTN, Inc. Based in Springfield, Ohio, HUTN’s CEO…

Paul Doherty, founder and chairman of The Digit Group (TDG), a company that designs, builds, and maintains what he calls “smart cities” around the world, was one of the speakers at Chicago’s 2018 “Voice of Blockchain” event at Navy Pier last month. In 2017, Doherty accompanied Donald Trump on his trip to China as part of a delegation of 30 CEOs from major U.S. companies. The trip proved fruitful for TDG – Doherty and Gong Yueqiong, president of the Chinese company Foton Motor Group, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during the trip. According to the MOU, Foton Motor Group,…

First Read US marks 9/11 with somber tributes, new monument to victims AP Americans are commemorating 9/11 with somber tributes, volunteer projects and a new monument to victims, after a year when two attacks demonstrated the enduring threat of terrorism in the nation’s biggest city. /jlne.ws/2x1TFLJ ***** The fire department by my house has a moving display of American Flags and signs documenting the various key events of the 9/11 day from 17 years ago. We shall not forget.~JJL ++++ Hits & Takes JLN Staff Today we have a report from JLN on CMT, reported by contributing editor Chuck Mackey….

You can trade cryptocurrencies on a screen but that doesn’t mean they have a ton in common with traditional assets. John Lothian News Contributing Editor Chuck Mackie sat down with three members of CMT Digital to discuss the challenges posed by digital assets. Colleen Sullivan, CMT Digital’s CEO, talks about the missing infrastructure needed to bring cryptocurrency into the mainstream market. Rob Walker, CMT CTO, discusses market fragmentation and the accelerated pace at which crypto is evolving. Finally, Brad Koeppen, head of cryptocurrency trading at CMT, talks about adapting to cryptocurrencies’ sprawling ecosystem. Produced by Mike Forrester Interview Conducted by…

“In order to have a healthy ecosystem for a new industry you really need four components. One is government involvement/regulatory clarity, two is academic institution involvement, three is trade associations and other advocacy groups and the fourth is the involvement of the startup community and mature institutions.” The state of Illinois has been involved early and often in the cryptocurrency space. In this MarketsWiki Education video, Colleen Sullivan, CEO of CMT Digital, talks about what differentiates Chicago from other cities when it comes to digital assets. Produced by Mike Forrester

A few folks from JLN attended the Voice of Blockchain Conference at Navy Pier this past Friday and Saturday. Here are some observations from two of them: Sarah Rudolph: The Voice of Blockchain event at Navy Pier was big – at least, the room where it was held was enormous, with the microphones on each stage just loud enough to drown out the echo from the microphones on the other stages. There was perhaps an overabundance of stages and topics from which to choose, but there were some interesting speakers as well as startup companies with vendor booths. Denny Chared…

The second International Blockchain Congress (IBC) took place on Friday at the Aon Center in Chicago. Topics ranged from crypto trading to smart contracts to the regulations surrounding ICOs. While the Congress was run much more efficiently than the first version, which fell hours behind schedule, this iteration saw much less in the way of attendance and speakers from outside the U.S. That said, a couple of speakers from Asia shed interesting light on cryptocurrency markets that those in the West rarely see or understand. Highlights from IBC included: Panel: Crypto Trading 2018 Somewhat surprisingly, the Crypto Trading panel actually…

First Read Hits & Takes JLN Staff SGX reported an open interest record in its USD/CNH futures contract on August 16 of 49,631 contracts, with a notional value of $4.96 billion.~JK The WILD Chicago Event: Sexual Harassment at work in the #MeToo Era, which was originally scheduled to take place August 16, has been rescheduled for October 4, 2018. The event, presented by Women in Listed Derivatives, will be conducted by Jennifer Schoen Gilbert of Stowell & Friedman, Ltd., a law firm dedicated to defending employees’ civil rights including against sexual harassment. The workshop will provide an open ended discussion…

“So what type of trouble can crazy, 85-year-old Aunt Zelda – who’s now a honed market manipulator – get into in the crypto world?” Do you have an aunt named Zelda? Do you own cryptocurrency? Ever had an awkward conversation at Thanksgiving dinner? In this video from MarketsWiki Education’s event in New York, Bailey Kessing, head of business development for Trillium, uses a few examples to demonstrate how market manipulation in cryptocurrencies could occur. Produced by Mike Forrester